A blast from the past or why we should care about extinct giant salamanders

Dinosaurs steal all the limelight when it comes to mass extinctions. But there are plenty of others that deserve our attention. What can we learn from those species that are not among us anymore, what do they tell us about evolution and about Australia? Our guest studies what once was to answer questions about the present.

Today we are talking about Temnospondyls. They looked like stretched out salamanders and got extinct quite a while ago. Despite being long dead, they have a lot of potential. Our guest, Lachlan Hart, is a PhD student in paleontology at UNSW Sydney and will tell us a thing or two about their secrets.

The skeleton of a creature belonging to the now extinct group of Temnospondyls.

Our guest, Lachlan Hart, in his element: debating evolution with fossils.

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